TERRIBLE SHRAPNEL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 191, 21 January 1915, Page 5

TERRIBLE SHRAPNEL.

EXPERIENCES OF A DOCTOR. . The following extracts are taken from . letters received by Mr R. McNab, M.P., from London. The letters were written l)> his brother, aid addriss«(l to Ills' locum tenons in Harley street, London. Shortly afterwards Captain McNab, it was stated, was killed at the front.— ' I'ml of Septembw, 1914, We arc scattered along the lines of communication. Three companies are up close to the tiring line, and I am about 30 miles behind the main position. Medically we are rather slack to-day (Tuesday) but have had a perfectly ghastly, job on, amputating gangrenous limbs,' setting septic compound fractures (si*; in one afternoon), head injuries, abdominals, all filthy and septic, some crawling with maggots. Had to use plaster shears to get the clothing off. I can now tell when I get into a box-van if' there is a gangrenous case in it. Three of us have dealt with 2000 wounded in four days. With an R.A.M.C. captain we officially turned ourselves into, a clearing hospital. Empty store trains pass, box vans loaded up with every conceivable kind of injury. We pull them out, set fractures, send the \vOrajL off to a hospital about 10 miles and the others down towards the ba.ee. It is always shrapnel, and the law,ration! is damnable.—a compound fracture of femur with wounds four to six inches long, with a l'ifie bound on with a putteft and the legs tied together, dressed on the field three or four days before, a mass of mud, blood, and pus. Head injuries with the above and brains, and these in 30's and 40's at a time. The crossing of a pontoon bridge over the Marne, and again over the Oise, seems to have beeii a perfect hell. The men all say that they were wounded there. Some lay for 36 hours in drenching rain. Have had many Germans; some had been living on raw oats. They tell the same tale of shrapnel. I seem to have run into the 53rd battalion of Prussian infantry. Had an officer hit on the helmed He said his battalion "Jetzt existirtf nicht." The previous day they paraded 40 strong and some were wounded before him. The French do no* appear to be much use—always the sn itory.' French supports never arrivi: • overing fire from French guns wl, . never seem to come into action. T! battle of the Marne seems to be ii. • most bloody butchery that ever took place. If there be any possible way that a man can be mangled and yet survive which I haven't seen, I would like. to hear of it. I saw a wound of entrance R from centre of sternum and exit R from spine. Could easily put my finger into the back, and a rush of air came out at each breath. Wounded four days, to be dressed in a railway shed at 3 a.m., pouring rain, material, gauze, wool and bandages. What would you do? Time limit. lOmin.

October 3, 1914. I am afraid we are in for a long time of it We are now about fifty miles from the firing line, but some of our companies are up at the front I am going off with the colonel to-morrow to make a round, and should See something of the operations, as one company is practically up at the firing line. We have got a big Daimler, and should do the round in a day unless held up anywhere. The last few days I have had little to do, very few wounded coming through. I have had several trips to a deal of 150 ambulances, another 200 stoves, lamps, asbestos sheets, oil cans, and all manner of truck down to rolls of toilet paper, October 13 1914. We have been very quiet and dull here for a fortnight. The companies are scattered throughout the country, and we have been waiting for orders for several days. These have now come, and we move to-morrow in a direction much nearer England. I had an excellent day about a fortnight ago, having to make a round of all our men. The colonel, adjutant, and I got a big car, 35 Panhard, and did the round. At one place the guns sounded very close, so we enquired the way, aivd finally brought up in the observation of a brigade of artillery. It was a glorious view of the valley of the Aisne. On one side our guns, on the other side our trenches facing the Germans at a distance of 300 or 600 yards. Telephones led to all the batteries, and the officer would point out to us the trenches he was going to shell, then telephone to the battery, when, in a few seconds, the shrapnel would ba bursting over the spot indicated. A little "top-dressing," he called it, just to show the "Alleymans" that they were being noticed. Wc saw a German battery take up a position (five guns) and start shelling our trenches. The colonel of artillery, said, "What ; damned impudence," and then as their shrapnel burst about 200 yards past o ir men he smiled, and said, "It is a pity , to see this waste of the Imperial am- [ munition." Then, down to his orderly, "Nos. 16, 17 and 18 batteries, stand by. Five German guns I R of No. 4 trench. Fire a ranging round at 400 yards," Bang goes a gun about 200 yards away and a puff of smoke where we had seen the guns. "100 yards L 200 yards shortfcorreet your aim," he shouted, and the orderly repeated the message. Then "twenty rounds." Thei"e was a beautiful roar of the 18 pounders, screams of the 20 shells, and a blast of smoke over the Germans—then no more from 'that quarter. "That'll teach the blighters a lesson," he said, as he returned to the top-dressing of the German trenches. I have seen captured guns with their wheels smashed, shields torn off, recoil springs broken, even the steel of the gun pitted like a magnified smallpox, also the wreclc of humanity which once was a gun team, and can imagine those twenty rounds on those five guns. After that a big German gun speculating in our direction with "Whistling Willies," but as they had not spotted our position we were, all right. A Taube 'plane came circling about, and we burrowed in straw until it passed. We saw the position where the Germans had tried to rush our trenches, and the artillery officer' had turned 18 shrapnel per gun.-'' Hi»' comment was "A few Alleymtkns hobbled back into the wood from which they attacked, so I planted a few shells there to stimlate their reserves." We thought we were completely out of range till he pointed ou,t some holes in the ground where "Whistling; Willies" had fallen that morning. This particular artillery brigade is supposed to be the best we have. The day after we were there one of the subalterns went forward and climbed a tree just before dawn. As soon as it was light he saw the Germans placing a machine gun, and called the oflicer of the nearest trench, who sent some men out to watch events. The seven Germans were busy at their gun. The gunner disappeared, having taken a few bearings with an instrument, and went to a field telephone. Two or three minutes later five shells popped on to that machine gun, and nothing remained but scraps of meat and metal.

We were passing through a village after leaving our friends the gunners, when there appeared an unusual commotion. We found a-company of our own regiment drawn up as a guard of honor. Persident Poincare was visiting Sir John French, We saw the whole show. French has commandeered a company of ours as guard to his headquarters, and they looked very well after the unshaven and dirty men from the trenches. It'was a treat to see a whole " company with, plenty of "spit and dol<